Technical Notes 2025, Issue 124 - Forthcoming engagement on the Local Development Plan (Call for Ideas and Sites Consultation) and Food Growing Strategy (Engagement Exercise)

• The purpose of this Technical Note is to update Members on forthcoming consultation and engagement on the Local Development Plan and Food Growing Strategy. An update on the submission of the Local Development Plan 3 Evidence Report for Gate Check is also provided.

Local Development Plan 3 – Submission of Evidence Report for Gate Check and Call for Ideas and Sites Consultation

• The Evidence Report for Local Development Plan 3 was approved at Council on 19 June 2025 (Report EDC/014/25/SMCN) for submission to the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA), subject to final administration and checking by officers. Members should note that the Evidence Report was submitted to the DPEA on 08 July 2025 and that the Gate Check process has now begun. It is currently expected that a determination on the sufficiency of the Evidence Report will be made in three to four months. Further information is provided in the Council report.
• Report EDC/014/25/SMCN sought approval to undertake a Call for Ideas and Sites consultation as part of work to prepare the Proposed Plan for Local Development Plan 3 (LDP3). The purpose of the Call for Ideas and Sites is to provide all stakeholders with an opportunity to submit specific ideas/ proposals that can be taken into account as part of preparing LDP3. This update is to provide further information on the arrangements for the consultation.
• The Call for Ideas and Sites consultation will be undertaken for a period of 8 weeks from 21 July 2025 to 15 September 2025. All information relating to the consultation will be provided on the following page on the Council’s website (which will be live from 21 July 2025).
• During the consultation period there will be two surveys that can be filled out by participants:
  • Call for Ideas – This is an opportunity for stakeholders to submit ideas and potential policies for LDP3.
  • Call for Sites – This is an opportunity for developers, landowners, agents and members of the public to put forward specific sites that they would like to be considered for potential allocation in LDP3.
• In addition to the online surveys two Drop-in sessions will be undertaken as follows:

• Members should note that the drop-in sessions for the Call for Ideas and Sites consultation will be undertaken concurrently with an engagement exercise on the Food Growing Strategy (further information on which is provided below). However, both sessions are independent from each other and have been arranged concurrently to aid in the planning and staffing of the sessions, and for the of convenience of those wishing to be involved in both consultations.
• There will also be an online information session (Call for Ideas and Sites consultation only), the date of which is still to be confirmed but is expected to be held during week commencing 04 August 2025.
• The consultation will be promoted through the LDP newsletter, on the Council’s website and through social media posts. Those without internet access will be able to contact the Land Planning Policy Team for access to the relevant documents.
• There is no need for stakeholders to re-iterate the comments that they have given so far during the evidence gathering process for LDP3. In particular the strength of feeling locally against the release of greenfield land for new development is noted.
• Once the Call for Ideas and Sites process has been concluded, officers will assess the suggestions against the requirements of National Planning Framework 4 and the Site Appraisal Methodology prepared alongside the Evidence Report. Where a policy suggestion or site proposal is deemed to be appropriate and is recommended by officers to be taken forward in LDP3, wider stakeholders will have an opportunity to comment on it as part of the consultation on the Proposed Plan. Further information on the process is provided in report EDC/014/25/SMCN.
• Any questions regarding the Call for Ideas and Sites consultation should be sent to development.plan@eastdunbarton.gov.uk

Importance of Local Food Growing:

• The UK’s food system faces significant pressures due to a combination of climate change, supply chain disruptions and economic uncertainty, increasing the cost of food and increasing food insecurity. An increase in food insecurity is likely to lead to a change in behaviour in how we shop and access food, including a potential drive towards more home-grown food, in response to increased cost and potential supply issues. Supporting and encouraging local food growing acts as a means of not only addressing the climate emergency by reducing carbon emissions and food miles, but also helps reduce food insecurity and promote community resilience, particularly for our more disadvantaged communities.
• Engaging in food growing activities, at any skill-level or scale, can generate significant social, economic, environmental and educational advantages, including a wide range of benefits that enhance life, open up opportunities to improve health and wellbeing, improve biodiversity and the access to nature. Many of these benefits are interconnected and participating in food growing can lead to multiple positive outcomes for the community.

Background:

• East Dunbartonshire’s Food Growing Strategy aims to improve access to affordable, healthy, sustainable food by increasing opportunities for people to participate in food growing initiatives. The Strategy is based on an assessment of current demand for facilities to grow food across our area and sets out how these needs can be met. The Strategy outlines the mechanisms needed to build an engaged, empowered and knowledgeable network of local growers over the next 5 years.
• The Strategy identifies opportunities to increase food growing provision in East Dunbartonshire in response to our legislative duties under Part 9 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.
• The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 provides a legal framework that promotes and encourages community empowerment and participation. It creates rights for community bodies and places duties on public authorities. Part 9 of the Act introduces new rights for communities to have access to and the rights to lease allotments as well as duties for local authorities to maintain an allotment waiting list, increase the provision of allotments, and prepare and review a local food growing strategy for its area.
• The Strategy has been in development since the beginning of 2017; initially with a series of early public engagement events in May 2017, followed by a public consultation on a draft Strategy in spring 2019. The subsequent approval of a final Food Growing Strategy was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and staff resourcing. Strategy development was restarted in 2025.

Previous Consultation:

• The early stages of strategy development were driven by a series of community engagement events in 2017 to gauge local demand, highlight any barriers and provide members of the public with an opportunity to identify sites across the Council-wide area with potential suitability for food growing. All potential food growing sites were digitally mapped alongside other environmental constraint data for analysis.
• A second set of public engagement events were run in early 2018 to engage with members of the community to gather opinions on the potential food growing sites identified in early engagement activities. The events gave an opportunity to explain the initial site assessment process. Previous public engagement enabled the development of a draft Food Growing Strategy which was approved by PNCA Committee in January 2019 and consulted on between April and June 2019. Members of the public were invited to share their views on the draft Strategy. The finalised Strategy will reflect the input gathered through the previous consultations and engagement activities, as well as findings from site assessments, waiting list demand data, and policy considerations.
• Responses received as part of the consultation in 2019 on the draft strategy indicated that there was limited evidence of demand for community-led food growing opportunities and a significant lack of support for the majority of potential growing sites identified as part of the draft Strategy.
• In response to this, it is considered that all potential sites requiring further assessment, as outlined in the draft Food Growing Strategy, should be removed from the final Strategy, with the exception of the site at Craigfoot Field, Milton of Campsie. It is intended that to work towards meeting the demand for allotments, an additional site in Milngavie will be identified in the short term, with delivery in the medium to long term. A third site is expected to be identified in Bearsden in the short to medium term, with delivery expected after the life of this Strategy in the longer term.
• It was determined from previous consultation that a new high-level approach to the final Strategy should be taken to allow adequate flexibility and to recognise the bespoke nature of food growing needs in different communities and sites. Future growing sites will be identified on a case-by-case basis where demand is evident, with accompanying site assessments and public consultation where relevant. The Strategy will highlight existing growing initiatives that people can get involved in. If interest on the part of an individual, group or organisation in developing a site for community food growing emerges in the future then this can be considered via the procedure that will be outlined in the final Strategy.

Proposed Further Engagement:

• To ensure that changes made to the final Strategy adequately reflect the responses received during earlier stages of the process, an additional engagement exercise will be conducted by officers before taking a finalised version of the Strategy to committee for approval. Whilst the Strategy has already undergone extensive engagement and consultation, it is considered that due to the lapse of time since the last round of consultation, and the proposed change of approach, it is important to give stakeholders an opportunity to share their final thoughts on the Food Growing Strategy.
• The engagement exercise will be in the form of two staffed drop-in sessions as set out below. During these sessions, the public will be invited to share their thoughts on proposed changes to be made to the finalised Food Growing Strategy.

• Two supplementary documents will be available at the drop-in sessions for the public to review. A “We asked, you said, we did” table covers the responses gathered from the draft Strategy consultation, and how these responses are being addressed in the finalised Strategy (see Appendix 1). The second document is a summary of the Food Growing Strategy to give the public a better understanding of the topics that will be covered in the finalised text (Appendix 2).
• Members should note that the drop-in sessions for the Food Growing Strategy engagement exercise will be undertaken concurrently with the Call for Ideas and Sites consultation (further information on which is provided above). However, both sessions are independent from each other and have been arranged concurrently to aid in the planning and staffing of the sessions, and for the of convenience of those wishing to be involved in both consultations.
• To accommodate for those not able to attend either session, an online form will be created on Survey123 for the public to share their thoughts on the proposed changes to the finalised Food Growing Strategy. The online survey will be live two weeks before the date of the first drop-in session (31 July 2025) and close a week after the second drop-in session (29 August 2025). The two supplementary documents provided at the in-person drop-in sessions will also be linked for online respondents to review before completing the form.
• The drop-in sessions and supplementary online survey will be promoted through the LDP newsletter, on the Council’s website and through social media posts. Those without internet access will be able to contact the Land Planning Policy Team for access to the relevant documents.
• All responses from the engagement exercise will be taken into consideration in finalising the Food Growing Strategy. Comments received during the in-person drop-in events and responses to the online survey will be reported to Committee along with the finalised Strategy.
• Any questions regarding the engagement exercise should be sent to development.plan@eastdunbarton.gov.uk